I'm going to say it right now, this story was nothing special. It did not change Batman, it was nothing new, it did not explore any new themes, it was but an ordinary issue of Detective Comics, only 80 pages long. I would have much preferring one consistent, epic 80 page plot instead of 4 stories that were only vaguely related to each other. Or hell, 80 pages of drawings by various artists would have been interesting. I would have even taken one amazing regular sized issue written by someone par...

This entire arc has excellent build-up, but unlike the twist at the end of Court of Owls, it's conclusion is both disappointing and nonsensical. The Joker's reasoning for cutting off his own face makes almost no sense, as does his reason for leaving Robin, Tim, Nightwing, and Batgirl with their faces on. In addition, we lack any sort of character development for anyone. And, I honestly wanted Batman to kill The Joker. He said "Everything that happens you tonight happens by me" and yet The Joker ...